Facebook owner Meta says a religious discrimination claim by an evangelical Christian over his site ban should be thrown out because it is frivolous - submitting that the complainant is "addicted to litigation".
In a complaint under the Equal Status Act 2000, north Dublin man Mark J Savage has accused Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd of subjecting him to religious discrimination, victimisation and harassment by blocking his account on 21 October 2021.
Meta's legal team said yesterday that Mr Savage had made 14 posts on the social media site between April 2020 and October 2021 accusing employees of a north Dublin retailer of child sexual abuse which breached its terms of use, hate speech or bullying and harassment policies.
Mr Savage claimed Facebook’s policies were "in line with the woke agenda" and that it would treat a hypothetical gay comparator differently if he himself had lodged a complaint about a George Michael song being posted on the site.
The firm’s barrister, Claire Bruton BL appearing instructed by A&L Goodbody, said the Facebook posts were linked to "Mr Savage’s attempts to post certain matters at a [retail] store alleging a [politician] was a sexual offender" in February 2020 and his belief that there were "a number of 'gay perverts’ at a toilet in [north county Dublin]".
After staff at the store took down a notice posted by Mr Savage and prevented him putting it back, Mr Savage proceeded to accuse them of child sexual offences, the tribunal heard.
The social media posts were not opened to a preliminary hearing yesterday at the Workplace Relations Commission, but Ms Bruton said they included "hate speech" in the form of a "harmful stereotype… that all homosexual men are gay perverts by virtue of their actions".
The posts also included "defamatory" statements and had come to her client’s attention when the retailer commenced legal proceedings against Meta, Ms Bruton added.
Counsel said Mr Savage had already brought discrimination complaints against the politician and the retail store which had both been ruled "frivolous and vexatious" by the WRC in separate proceedings.
Lawyers for Meta told the Workplace Relations Commission yesterday said that by their count, Mr Savage had made 42 previous discrimination complaints and had admitted to a reporter from the Sunday World newspaper in 2021 that he was "addicted" to litigation – calling it "better than heroin", she said.
"So is going to the gym," Mr Savage countered, also stating he thought he had only taken around "two dozen" such complaints.
Citing a 2021 ruling against Mr Savage in a prior claim against the retailer, Ms Bruton said the WRC adjudicator in that matter had found that "not the remotest suggestion, even by the complainant that these allegations are true" and that they were "of the most vile and repugnant character".
"We sought for this complaint to be dismissed without a hearing. My application is for this complaint to be decided on the grounds of it being frivolous and vexatious. Mr Savage’s claim, we say, is an abuse of process," Ms Bruton said.
"I believe this was a child safety issue. My religious belief is bearing witness to truth – highlighting a child safety issue," Mr Savage said. "I bought all these textbooks. I studied them. I even played devil’s advocate to see if there was any hole in my reasoning," he said.
"I exercised my constitutional right to expression, my freedom of expression in public, as an evangelical Christian," he said, adding that it was part of his religious expression to "bear witness to truth".
Mr Savage said he was rebutting the respondent’s argument that there was "no evidence whatsoever" for his allegations by stating that it was his "belief" that there had been a "child safety issue" at the bathroom in question.
"The premise is assumed to be true… it’s like the premise of the heads of the impending hate speech bill – hate speech is hate speech – it’s circular reasoning," he said.
"The conclusion is that a child safety issue has happened. Expressing my beliefs as an evangelical Christian, that includes speaking truth to power and bearing witness to truth. That gives a lot of latitude," he said.
After swearing an oath, Mr Savage claimed that various parties he had named were "guilty" of offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2017, including a WRC adjudicating officer who had ruled on another of his complaints.
Mr Savage contended that a hypothetical comparator who was gay would have been treated differently to him by Facebook if they had posted a link to the music video for 'Outside' by George Michael on the social media platform.
He said this song "celebrates lewdness in public bathrooms" by certain members of the gay community – not all members, I don’t want to smear the whole gay community".
"He’s mocking the police officer, George Michael, the undercover police officer who caught him red-handed, so to speak, and he was mocking him," Mr Savage said.
The complainant’s position was that if he himself had complained about a gay man posting a link to ‘Outside’ on Facebook the social media firm would have reacted differently.
"Facebook are known for this and they design their policies in line with the woke agenda," Mr Savage said.
Ms Bruton objected to this claim, and Mr Savage in turn stated that he objected to being characterised as homophobic.
Homophobia was the "irrational fear and hatred of gay people", Mr Savage said. "This was rational, in my view. It was rational, legitimate criticism – disapproval and criticism. I’m not a hateful person, despite what I’m being smeared as," he added.
Mr Savage also said he "should have known better" than to make an "offhand comment" about heroin addiction in a doorstep interview, and complained that a reader might be left with the incorrect impression he had used the drug in the past.
"I'm going to adjourn this, without prejudice to any decision.... I’ll consider everything that’s been put to me," said adjudicating officer Roger McGrath, thanking the parties for their submissions and closing the hearing.
